After missing the entire 2010-11 season with a concussion, Salvador played all 82 games for the Devils in 2011-12, averaging 20:13 per contest. Although he did not score a goal during the regular season, Salvador found the back of the net four times in the playoffs, as the Devils went to the Stanley Cup finals before ultimately losing to the Los Angeles Kings.

The deal for the 36-year-old Salvador came a day after the Devils re-signed two even older men, 40-year-old future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur, and his backup, 39-year-old Johan Hedberg.

Salvador’s deal is a bigger risk, and one that the Devils did not necessarily have to take with veterans Andy Greene, Henrik Tallinder, Anton Volchenkov and Marek Zidlicky all under contract for next season, as well as 2011 first-round draft pick Adam Larsson coming off a promising rookie campaign and restricted free agent Mark Fayne.

With 18 points, Larsson was the Devils’ top scorer from the blue line last season, and while more is expected of the Swede going forward, New Jersey could have allowed Salvador to leave as a free agent and tried to acquire a more offensively-minded defenseman. With a paucity of such players available via free agency, and in light of Dennis Wideman’s five-year, $26.25 million contract with the Calgary Flames, there is nothing wrong with keeping together a defense corps that won the Eastern Conference title.

Re-signing Salvador also provides a further indication that the Devils are operating without significant financial limitation, even as ownership issues cloud the franchise. Per Devils beat reporter Tom Gulitti of The (Bergen, N.J.) Record, Salvador said he went back to the Devils after he received other offers, as promised, and the team matched the offer.